Prerequisites of Affection
by ClaudiaRain
Summary: When Eliot gets injured during one of their jobs, Nate has to step in - much to the displeasure of everyone. Nate/Parker.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Prerequisites of Affection

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything and I make money from nothing.

**Spoilers:** None at all – everything here is made up by me except the characters.

**Pairing:** Nate/Parker

**Summary: **When Eliot gets injured during one of their jobs, Nate has to step in - much to the displeasure of everyone. N/P eventually. In progress.

**Author's note:** This has been in progress since I posted my first story on here. I finally figured posting it would give me more motivation to finish it, since it will bother me now that I have posted something that's not done. And it _will _be finished. I love reviews/suggestions/encouragement!

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"You did this on purpose," Nate fumed, directing his glare at Eliot, who merely stared at the ceiling. He refused to look at his boss for fear it might start a physical fight. In his condition, he could still take Nate, he was sure, but it would hurt.

"Right, I broke my leg on purpose." Eliot gestured to said leg, as if to prove his point.

Nate was unimpressed. "You probably did, just to get out of this. And now who has to take your place? Me!" He was back to pacing again.

"You're acting as if this is the worst thing in the world," Eliot began, then winced when Nate leveled him yet another death glare. "Okay, I see your point, but you'll get through it. Need I remind you that you're the one who _came up with _this particular plan?"

"Don't remind me," Nate complained. It went without saying that if he'd known Eliot would go and break his leg through sheer negligence, he would have thought of something different.

"Hardison gave me this questionnaire," Parker entered the room with a flourish, handing a set of papers to Eliot.

"Oh no. These go to him." Eliot, in turn, pointed at Nate, who sank into a chair and put his head in his hands. "As you can see, I'm in no condition to play the part anymore."

Parker wondered why Eliot looked so evilly…gleeful. "I forgot about your leg," she said, trying to sound sympathetic, but it was difficult. He had only himself to blame.

"I know it's hard to remember, seeing as I've had it in a cast for a _week_."

The sarcasm was lost on Parker who merely shrugged and started lecturing him on proper safety harness protocol. He could have throttled her, but his leg prevented it. Yes, his leg, that was the reason he would go with.

Once she'd thoroughly harangued Eliot, Parker turned to Nate, eyeing him with a healthy amount of skepticism. "You can't be serious that people are supposed to believe you are my – my –" she stuttered over the word, her mouth somehow unable to form it.

"Fiancé?" Eliot laughed, as Nate shook his head in denial. He could not get through this, not with Parker. With Sophie, now that would have been incredibly easy, and not just because of their past. Sophie had a way of becoming her character, and those around her easily coasted on her own brilliant acting. It was as if she, being so good, cast some of that talent onto those acting with her.

Parker was good at what she did, but acting? It had never exactly been her strong point. He eyed her warily as she looked him up and down. Sophie entered the room and arched an eyebrow inquiringly.

"I don't see it," Parker said finally, tilting her head to the side. "I don't think anyone will believe it."

"I concur," Sophie said, "we should draft Hardison for this role. He and Parker get along much better than you two." She flicked her gaze from Nate to Parker and back again.

"We get along well enough," Parker sounded almost as if she were sulking. "But I would never be engaged to someone who wore that," she informed Nate, who looked down at his shirt and khakis as if to find what was wrong with them. "For future reference, I prefer blue, it brings out your eyes."

"I'll get a new wardrobe just for you, Parker." He said dryly, and she smiled broadly in response. "And Sophie, Hardison can't do this, we need him behind the scenes." They'd already had this argument when Eliot had been assigned as Parker's fiancé – after all, Eliot had liked the idea no better than Nate currently did.

Sophie opened her mouth, but Nate cut her off. "And _you_ can't be my fiancée, because they already know you."

"But no one knows about my personal life," Sophie countered. "I could very well be engaged."

He shook his head. "It's too risky; it's playing two roles and puts you at even more risk of making a mistake – not that I think you would. But it's impractical. I think we have to accept this is the best way to go about it. _Both _of us, Parker," He added, before she could protest again.

Parker took a seat at the table and tapped her fingers in impatience. He was always doing that, acting as if she were going to be the major problem on one of their jobs. And was it really so terrible to have to _pretend_ to be with her? First Eliot had thrown that major fit about how she was impossible and actually stormed out, the baby. Just because she had a few suggestions for him about what to do and what not to do. Everyone knew it would help him get into character if he started acting the part for real, like running her errands, but of course he didn't see it that way. Nate had taken his side, as usual.

And now here was Nate, with his abject misery at the thought of pretending to be engaged to her. She narrowed her eyes at him as he and Eliot whispered amongst themselves. If he didn't man up, she would _show_ him misery. The thought made her feel better and she smiled. It must have looked somewhat predatory because both Eliot and Nate stopped to shoot wary glances in her direction.

"You boys make everything so much harder than it has to be," she said breezily. "I'm one of the easiest people to get along with and –"

Everyone started laughing, as if she'd said something hysterical. Hardison could barely control himself as he wheezed, "Parker – Parker, thanks, I needed that."

"You're not exactly easy, Parker," Eliot added, once he'd calmed down. "Remember how you wanted me to get your dry cleaning and do your shopping, and clean your apartment?"

"It would have forced you to pretend to care," Parker said, so low he almost couldn't hear her. "I thought it would make it easier when you had to do the real thing in public."

He became slightly uncomfortable, perhaps sensing some truth to her words, but ignored it and rolled his eyes. "Come on, you just wanted a personal shopper and maid. You were trying to see what you could get out of the situation!"

"Because I knew very well how miserable you were at the idea, you said as much, many times! As if you're so easygoing, maybe you should look at yourself every once in awhile." She found herself getting louder, not quiet yelling, but far too close.

"I think we all need to calm down –" Sophie began, but Eliot interrupted her.

"Of course I was upset," Eliot yelled, standing up, which was no easy feat seeing as one leg was broken. "I can't work with you, you always go off to do your own thing! You always make it harder than it has to be and I'm suddenly supposed to keep you in line? No thanks! You know, Nate accused me of breaking my own leg on purpose so I wouldn't have to deal with you, and I didn't, but if I hadn't broken it by accident I think I _would _have done it on purpose." He was breathing heavily by the time he was done, and regretted his words almost instantly. Even though he was upset and his words held some truth, it was only going to make things harder.

Parker was prepared to yell back at him, but his words sunk in after a moment. She abruptly shut her mouth. His arguments would have been comical if he weren't so deadly serious. She crossed her arms in an unconsciously protective gesture and switched her gaze from Eliot to Nate and back again. "I think I understand."

"Parker," Eliot sighed, internally debating what to say. He needn't have worried, for she started speaking again.

"You'd rather throw yourself out a window than work with me. Or is it just pretending to be engaged to me that causes so much trouble? And you feel exactly the same," she accused, turning to Nate. She tried to hold onto the anger because it kept the pain at bay. She'd had no idea their issues with her ran so deep.

"I didn't mean that," Eliot tried, but she left the room without another word.

Hardison cleared his throat nervously. "That was intense, ya'll need to take some pills or start drinking or something," he paused and cast a guilty look at Nate, who ignored the comment. "Find something to lessen the tension around here. Maybe we should attend a teamwork seminar or something…" he kept rambling on, though no one was listening.

"Men," Sophie shook her head in exasperation. "I'll go talk to her."

"No, I'll go apologize," Eliot said, even as Hardison stood up to follow Parker, still talking about how he couldn't work productively in such an unstable environment.

"All of you sit down," Nate said, dreading what any of them would say to her. Eliot would probably start yelling again. And he knew Sophie would somehow get Parker to agree that Sophie was best taking over her part. Hardison would be better, but Nate knew that she needed to hear something from him. Besides, he needed Hardison to work on getting into Liam West's office computer servers.

"You all know what you need to do to prepare. I'll be back." He thought for a moment. "Maybe in several hours."

"Good luck," Hardison smirked, which quickly disappeared when Nate turned to glare at him.

He waited to make sure they were all suitably busy before leaving. The problem was that no one (himself included) really ever thought of Parker as having feelings. She seemed so unaffected by everything that it was often incredibly easy to forget she cared about anything at all. It made him wonder how often they inadvertently hurt her. It was probably much more often than they knew about, and that stirred up such unexpected feelings of guilt and regret that he quickly cast the thoughts from his mind.

He'd simply find her and apologize for the insensitivity of their colleagues, and everything would be fine. Because everything was always that easy with Parker, right? Right. He clamped down on the uneasiness he felt and convinced himself he had nothing to worry about.

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TBC – soon, I swear! All thoughts welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's note:** Can I say how much I love all of you? The response I got to this story was way more than I dreamed. Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favorited/put this story on alert. You all inspire me to write faster!

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**Chapter 2**

He wasted about a half hour searching their offices and the rest of the building before realizing she must have gone home. That was unlike her. He couldn't remember a time when she'd been so angry she just left entirely. Though, he admitted to himself, she was probably more hurt than angry. He should have stepped in and calmed Eliot down. He knew very well that as their leader, the rest of them generally took their cues from him – he should have tried to be more understanding of her.

He shook his head, no point dwelling on all that now, but he could try to fix it.

Out of all of them, she lived in the nicest building. So nice, in fact, that the security wouldn't let him advance past.

"Ms. White doesn't have a list," the guard told him, checking his computer and unknowingly using Parker's fake name. She was paranoid, but Nate didn't blame her. "In fact," the guard continued, "she has specific instructions to not allow any visitors. Ever."

That didn't surprise Nate, at all. "She'll see me."

"No, she won't." The guard replied, equally as adamant. Nate surveyed the rest of the lobby. Luxurious didn't begin to describe it. It reminded him more of a hotel lobby than anything else. Several seating areas were arranged throughout and there were even fountains. Fountains!

"You must have seen me here with her before," Nate continued, "which proves I'm not lying."

"It's not my job to recall past guests of our residents, sir. I suggest if you wish to see her, you contact her directly and have her tell us to let you up."

"That's the thing, she won't answer her phone!"

"Then I suspect," the guard said smugly, "that you have your answer already."

Nate wanted to punch him, but ultimately decided that wouldn't help his cause. There were more guards than the one currently seated at the desk, enjoying his predicament. And Nate's suspicious behavior meant that the others were now alert and watching him closely. Looking for any excuse to throw him out, he knew. He wasn't about to rush them, either, since they were armed and he had just bought this shirt and – despite Parker's dislike for it – wanted to keep it blood-free.

Which left the only other option that had been failing for an hour now. He chose one of the comfortable lobby chairs (nicer than his apartment, he noted), pulled out his cell phone and called her. She let it go to voicemail, again. Damn was she stubborn. At times like these he wondered why he hadn't stayed retired.

"Hi Parker, I feel like I don't even have to leave a message this time since I've probably said it all in the previous…eleven messages. I'm in the lobby of your building and they won't let me up to see you, but I need to talk to you. So I'll be waiting down here for when you emerge and you have to come down eventually –"

"I could always slip out the back," a voice whispered in his left ear, which made him shut the phone mid-sentence. She had most likely been behind him the entire time. He needed to brush up on his observational skills.

"Where's the fun in that?" He asked as she sat in the chair opposite him.

In response, she waved her cell phone in his general direction. "Seventeen missed calls, Nate. Really?"

"To be fair, only…sixteen of those were from me." He cleared his throat. "But anyways, that's neither here nor there. You're here, so you must be willing to talk to me."

She leaned back in her chair and watched him for a moment. "I must be."

"We need you for this, Parker, you know that. I'm sorry for what I said, and Eliot's sorry, too. He wanted to come after you, actually, to apologize."

"He did, in the one voicemail I had that wasn't from you," she confirmed. "I suppose I'm sorry, too." She added grudgingly after a moment. "I'm not always…the thing is that sometimes I...you know what I mean," she said uncomfortably.

Nate leaned forward, thoroughly enjoying this. "_Do_ I know what you mean?"

She leaned forward as well, until they were a mere foot apart. "Don't push your luck," she hissed.

He held up his hands in acquiescence. "Tomorrow night then? You will accompany me to Liam West's black tie fundraiser? As my fiancée?"

"Well, I never did get properly asked," she teased, her heart feeling lighter than it had in awhile. She wondered if she could get away with demanding something extra on this job – like his permission to…procure a few of Liam's antiques?

She was too absorbed in imagining what she could steal that she almost jumped out of her chair when she realized Nate was kneeling in front of her.

"What are you doing, Nate? Did you trip?" She leaned forward to see if he were having a stroke or something.

Nate silently counted to three and then said carefully, "Don't make this any more unromantic than it already is by calling 911."

Behind Nate, the guard at the desk started choking on his coffee and the other few people lingering in the lobby stopped to watch the decidedly (un)romantic scene. "Will you marry me?" He held out a ring that one of the other members of their team had probably stolen at some point over the years.

"Nate, everyone's staring at us," she told him, as if she were utterly unable to comprehend the question he'd asked her.

"Is that a no? Parker, you already said you were back in with us so if this is your way of trying to negotiate terms, speak up before security decides to throw me out for real."

She mulled it over for a few seconds. "Can I –"

"No, you cannot steal from him, Parker."

"But I really want to ruin his life," she sighed.

"Can't you settle for just ruining mine?"

She narrowed her eyes, "Is that supposed to be convincing me?"

"This seemed like a much better idea five minutes ago," he muttered, then quickly changed his tone to something unnaturally saccharine. "Darling, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

His words effectively killed her next sarcastic response. She certainly hadn't expected him to be so, so...sweet. She covered her shock with humor. "I don't know." She pretended to think it over. A middle-aged woman who'd been strolling through the lobby with a half dozen shopping bags inched closer to them to try and hear better. Parker finally nodded slightly. "I suppose I will. If I must." She sounded decidedly bored. The older woman tsked.

"No one here thinks that you appreciate me," Nate told her, slipping the ring on her finger. She allowed herself to enjoy it for a moment, briefly wondering if this would ever happen to her, for real. She suspected the probability was somewhere around 1%. Probably less.

They both stood and Parker, on some whim of crazy impulse, leaned forward to kiss him briefly. They had to make it look real, right? The odds were slim that anyone from the lobby would be at Liam's tomorrow, but if they were, it wouldn't look good if they bid farewell like platonic friends. Or so she told herself, anyway.

Nate must have been thinking something along the same lines because he looked quickly around the lobby. People were still watching them, but every time he looked in someone's direction, they glanced quickly away. "I should probably come upstairs for a little while," he said quietly, pulling her closer.

She nodded into his shirt as she hugged him.

The stopped at the main desk on the way to the elevators.

"Told you she'd see me," Nate couldn't help smirking to the guard, who quickly stuttered an apology.

"S-sorry, sir. Ms. White," He nodded and bowed his head slightly. "But there was a note in the system that you didn't want any visitors."

Parker frowned as she recalled telling them that when she moved in. "I would have changed it if I'd known my boss –" she stopped abruptly when Nate nudged her in the side. "I mean, if I knew Nate was going to be coming over. Please change it so that if anyone comes to see me I'm notified immediately."

"Yes, ma'am. It won't happen again. I'll change it right now," the guard said.

"We're engaged," she added loudly, glancing around and smiling at the few people still watching them with interest. After all, it wasn't every day one witnessed a proposal in the lobby of their building.

"I saw that," the guard told her. "Congratulations."

"Engaged – to be _married_," she added, quite unnecessarily.

The guard watched her with confusion as Nate gently shoved her toward the elevators. "Time to go, dear," he said, praying she didn't say anything else.

Thankfully, she forgot about trying to "sell" their charade the second they left the front desk. "I live in the penthouse," she told Nate proudly, turning her key that allowed only her access to the top floor.

"I know you do," he said smiling slightly. "You live better than any of us."

"I used to want to hold onto money. Only acquire it, but then one day I thought, what's the point? Not that I still don't have a lot of it, but I spend a lot more now. I do enjoy it." She stepped out of the elevator and he followed. He'd been here before and it was mostly as he remembered. Expensive, yet comfortable.

The entryway led into a huge great room with seating areas, some for the plasma television, some arranged into areas to sit and talk. He wondered who she talked to if she almost never had guests. The hallway to the left led to her bedroom suite. To their right, the kitchen overlooked the living room. Beyond that were the guest bedrooms and baths. His eyes lingered on the gleaming mahogany of the beautiful, fully-stocked bar. He remembered that, too. She brought him a cup of coffee he hadn't seen her make. She must have gone to the kitchen during his musings.

"I made plenty before you got here because I knew we'd probably need it."

He didn't comment on the fact that she'd known he was coming and prepared in advance, though she ignored his calls. In fact, he was mostly touched that she'd gone to the effort; it wasn't something she normally did.

And she was right about needing the coffee.

Several hours of planning later they were both exhausted, despite copious amounts of caffeine. They had gone over every possibility for what might happen tomorrow – or rather tonight, seeing as it was now two in the morning.

"It's late, why don't you stay here? I have several guest bedrooms."

"Several bedrooms and no visitors." He knew before he said it that it was crossing the line into too personal, but he couldn't help himself.

"Things come up, never know when you'll need to put up an old associate from Sri Lanka," she shrugged, as if she'd given him an everyday explanation, and he supposed, for her, it was.

He noticed her examining the ring he'd given her, again. It reflected the soft lighting of the room. He knew she was inordinately pleased with it, which contented him, for some reason.

He spoke without being aware, at first, of what he wanted to say. "You don't need to work with us for the money. Maybe it was a nice bonus at one point, but now you're clearly set. Why don't you walk away? You're always reminding us that you prefer working alone."

She was silent for a moment, turning the ring around and around on her finger. When she answered, it was with uncharacteristic openness. "We both know if that were really true I wouldn't still be working with the team. I do it for the same reasons you do. After so many years of being by myself, I find that I like helping other people. And on top of that, it's nice to be…needed."

"It is very nice to be needed," he agreed. You didn't realize how necessary it was, actually, until you no longer were.

The thought occurred to him that it was entirely too comfortable being there in her apartment, at two in the morning. Almost like he could be there every morning and that would be perfectly fine with him.

"Better get to bed," he said abruptly, setting his notes aside. "We should be rested for tomorrow."

She nodded as he stood, and waited until his back was to her. "Be careful, Nate. Don't go falling out of any windows. Hardison won't like having to bring me to the fundraiser at the last minute."

If he knew nothing else, he knew the members of his team, and the ways they sounded when they were trying to hide things from him. He'd had to learn that early on to make sure they didn't try to play him, or each other, like the time a year before when Sophie had done that very thing.

This time, though, Parker wasn't trying to cover up something sinister; no, she was trying to cover up something much more important – the fact that even though she wanted to sound as if she were joking, she wasn't. He heard the uncertainty in her voice about whether or not he was going to leave her as well. Her unspoken wondering about if he were merely forcing himself to do this to get revenge on Liam West.

She may as well have asked, _Should I prepare myself, Nathan Ford, for the fact that you hate the idea of being with me so much that you would rather injure yourself than pretend to be engaged to me?_

He turned back to face her, and she flipped needlessly through papers on her coffee table as an excuse not to look at him.

"You have nothing to worry about, Parker. Eliot didn't mean what he said, and he told you so. I admit I overreacted as well, but I was wrong. Nothing is going to keep me away from you."

She glanced up at him and he quickly added, "Tomorrow – I mean tomorrow. What I mean is –"

He stopped when she shook her head and smiled. She had her answer.

"Besides," he added, "If I fell out of one of your windows I think I'd be dead. Really, you have nothing to worry about."

She nodded wordlessly. He paused before leaving the room. "We really couldn't do this without you, Parker. We'll make this work. We all need you."

She waited until he had disappeared down the hall. "I need you all more," she whispered, and as she intended, the words floated into nothing, not reaching him.

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TBC – as always, all thoughts welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's note:** To all who reviewed: Against the Evening Sky, zombienath, Kater85, Erin, jojobevco, speedlesweetie, catandmouse10, Anastasia-FFBF, CharlotteNC – I LOVE YOU! And to all those who favorited and/or put this story on alert, I love you, too. And hell, to all those who read but didn't review, I love you, as well.

It makes me happy knowing there are people out there (aside from me) who are enjoying this.

*Some characters may be OOC – but then again, any story where Nate and Parker are together probably has them a bit OOC by definition.

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**Chapter 3**

"I hope you two are prepared. Are you prepared? I went over the notes you gave me and I have to say that some of your contingency plans seem pretty complicated, in which case I hope you're not going to rely on me if something goes wrong, because I have to tell you, I am _not _prepared to come running in there to save you. I've done it before but so long as Nate is in Liam's office, I need to stay here at my computer, got it? You can't bother me during that time because Liam's security is integrated into every aspect of his house, pretty much. It's going to be all I can do to keep the alarms from sounding, never mind if something goes wrong and you ask me to pretend to be a cocktail waiter or janitor or foreign ambassador –"

"Hardison." Nate's voice cut across all their coms. "Relax."

Hardison swiveled around in his chair, trying to work out the tension in his shoulders. "I'm relaxed, what do you mean, relax? Actually, it's pretty hard to relax when you know one wrong move is going to put everyone in jeopardy –"

"Hardison, it's under control. I know it's been awhile since we did a job like this, but I have the best person probably within a thousand miles to disable the security when we need it."

"Whoa, wait a minute, you brought in someone else? Who did you bring in, Nate? It better not be Alexei Martinov because I swore to God if I ever saw him again I would punch him in the face."

No one said anything and after a minute, Hardison got it. "Oh you meant me? Of course you meant me! I was only joking with y'all. I got this."

Parker and Nate looked at each other and when they saw each other's amusement, couldn't stop from smiling.

Sophie's voice came over their headsets. "I'll meet you in one minute by the main entrance."

Parker looked around, but she had no idea where the other woman was. Nate held out his hand. "Ready?"

"Of course," she smiled, and found she didn't have to pretend to be happy. She was happy. Except one thing felt slightly off. She realized with a start that although she didn't know why, she was _too _happy. It would seem suspicious; she had to pretend to be less happy than she was. After all, the whole point was to put her and Nate's "rocky" relationship on display, then go off by herself and try to lure Liam away.

Initially Eliot and Sophie had been the ones to make contact with Liam. They'd presented him with a fake business proposal that was just risky enough that Liam wouldn't see it as too good to be true. No business plan existed, of course. They simply needed a ruse to get invited to his latest fundraiser – something which all of his business partners were invited to by default. Parker would be Eliot's date, and Sophie would lure Liam away, allowing Parker to break into his office while Eliot served as a look out.

Then Sophie had gone and unintentionally insulted Liam by rejecting his amorous proposals the night they'd met. No longer could she lure Liam and his injured pride away during the fundraiser. ("Thanks to Sophie's vehemence, we need to present Liam with someone…fresh," Eliot had winked at her when they worked up the initial plan of her distracting Liam. She'd told Eliot not to try and flatter her with sexual harassment, but despite her strenuous arguments as to why Sophie was _still _better at such a course of action, she'd been overruled).

That's why she'd been forced to take over Sophie's initial assignment. She still thought she'd have better served them by lifting the documents, but seeing as what they wanted was on a hard drive Hardison could (hopefully) manipulate, it seemed the better plan (to the rest of them anyway) to have her be the distraction while Eliot got what they needed.

And now Nate had replaced Eliot, but thankfully Parker had never met Liam, so they could introduce her as his fiancé instead of Eliot's. It helped that Liam had a special penchant for the significant others of the men he knew.

After Eliot broke his leg, Sophie had tried to argue they could work it equally as well by introducing Nate as _her_ date, because Liam hadn't met him either, but it still would have called for Sophie trying to distract Liam, which they'd already decided was unlikely. Plus it would have left Parker with no invited way into the party and the best plan called for three people – one to raid Liam's office, one to distract Liam, and one to serve as a look out in case Liam broke away from his distraction or one of his other business associates or a party-goer decided to go wandering.

All of this was why she still favored breaking into buildings at night, alone. Then it was easy to avoid the craziness of elaborate plans and fake relationships. Unfortunately, Hardison had insisted that the security was too high-tech for her to go it alone. Liam was extremely rich, and as a result, extremely paranoid. Their best shot was the fundraiser, when most of the security had to be disabled simply to let guests enjoy themselves. Hardison could then focus on the main problem – Liam's office computers.

Just thinking about all the different plans they'd had in place over the course of this job was enough to make her want to run. As if sensing her thoughts, Nate held her hand tighter and met her eyes. She nodded to let him know she was alright. They walked across Liam West's perfectly manicured lawns.

"I could live like this," she told Nate, as she drifted into the possibilities. "All this money…it would be perfect."

"Like you'd want to sit around in a mansion all day? Come on Parker, you'd get bored within an hour and start plotting to steal priceless art from your rich neighbors out of desperation."

Actually, the scenario he laid out did sound appealing…she tugged on his hand. "You know me so well, darling."

"Peter," Sophie materialized from somewhere, behind the bushes maybe? "Liam has been dying to meet you."

"I'm sure he has," Nate said jovially. "Can't wait to show off my gal. Penny, come here, I want you to meet Diana Francoeur."

Parker barely hid her wince when he said her name. She'd objected strongly – _too _strongly – to Penelope, and as a result they'd all agreed that would be her fake name. How they liked to torture her.

Nate paused, waiting for her to acknowledge him. She knew it was time to turn on the act, and the thought depressed her. All she'd wanted was a normal, stress-free evening with Nate – wait, where had that come from? Since when was her life normal or stress-free? Never mind the horrifying desire to spend time with Nate. Sure they were friends but she'd never had such a specific stray thought before. Maybe _pretending_ to be with him had caused her subconscious mind to become confused? Was that even possible?

She ignored the ice in her stomach and allowed the irritation she felt to show in her tone. "I'm already standing right beside you, _Peter_," she said through her teeth. God the name did not suit him at all, but again she'd been overruled. Come to think of it, she'd been overruled a lot lately. Conspiracy?

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious," Nate said impatiently, nodding toward Liam in a not so subtle reminder to get moving.

She ignored him and turned to Sophie. "Diana, it's lovely to meet you. I'm as eager as my fiancé to finalize this business, since I hear it can bring us a lot of money."

"Lots indeed," Sophie raised an eyebrow and led them over to Liam. After Sophie introduced them both, Parker felt Liam's eyes on her for nearly their entire conversation.

She took the opportunity of another trip to the bar to complain to Hardison that Liam wouldn't stop staring at her and she was having to fight the constant urge to blind him.

"Parker," Hardison said matter of factly, "you have the easiest job of anyone. Just seduce him! You know how to be seductive, right?"

"Do you remember who you're talking to?" She hissed back, swapping her champagne for a vodka and tonic at the last minute.

"Okay," Hardison continued, "My suggestion is don't talk. Men love women who don't talk."

"Hardison, shut up!" Sophie's voice played in both their ears, "you are not helping. No wonder you're still single!"

"Hey, that is harsh, Sophie. Do I go around insulting your love life? No, I don't, because I'm a man of integrity –"

"Hardison!" Parker snapped, "I am _trying_ to be seductive. I'm not an expert on the subject but I'm guessing I don't look too seductive while talking to myself in the corner, so stop giving me your version of advice. I think I'm better off trying to do this on my own."

She made her way back to Nate, Liam, and a few other men still talking business. Nate glanced at her and imperceptibly shook his head, an unspoken assessment of the conversation he'd just heard but been unable to participate in. She smiled slightly at him, hoped he'd take it as the reassurance it was, and handed him another glass of soda.

Despite her misgivings about Hardison's supposed expertise on the subject, she found herself inadvertently taking his advice simply because she had nothing to contribute to their business discussion. Besides, all she had to do was look seductive. Wait, there was something else. What was it again?

"Penny!" Nate nearly yelled, and she jumped. Oh right, she was supposed to be fighting with him, not staring off into space.

"No need to shout," she said irritably, looking to Sophie – who had wandered over a few minutes before – as if for moral support. 'Diana Francoeur' gave her nothing but a look of disdain. Parker wondered if she were acting or still upset about the fact that she hadn't been allowed to play Nate's fiancée. Maybe both.

"Penny," Nate's voice sounded strained, and she had to fight to keep from smiling. Oh, how bad she was at this. "Liam's been talking to you, have you heard a word he's said? It's rude to ignore people, you know."

She abruptly took a few steps away from him to grab a glass of champagne off a passing waiter's tray. "No need to speak to me like a child," she informed him haughtily, feeling warmth spread throughout her at the approval she saw in his eyes.

"Maybe if you stopped acting like one for two minutes, we wouldn't have this problem," he smiled apologetically at Liam before turning back to her. "I should have left you at home, but no, I thought you could act civil for a night when I have important business dealings to attend to."

"I'd be having more fun at home, that's for sure, instead of you ignoring me all evening. You haven't said one thing to me since we got here that wasn't a demand or a chastisement for something."

"More fun at home? Were you disappointed when I insisted you come along? Perhaps you'd been hoping to have company tonight?"

The night before, at her apartment, they'd drawn up the general outline of a fight with room for some improvisation – no sense in memorizing scripts, they'd decided. Still, Parker hadn't seen it coming that he would all but blatantly accuse her of having an affair. However, it made sense to explain his distrust toward her. She hoped Liam would buy it. Why not sell it as best she could?

"Who's the child now?" She retorted, realizing she had finished her glass (in 60 seconds, was that a record?), and futilely searched for a nearby waiter so she could grab another one. "Airing our problems in front of everybody, you do realize that although I'm not having an affair this would drive me to it?"

Nate shut his eyes for a moment and when he opened them she read that he wanted to tone things down a bit. They weren't supposed to be blissfully happy, but then again, they weren't supposed to be on the brink of breaking up, either. "Look, I'm sorry. You know how jealous I get, honey. I've had a few too many drinks," he held up his glass, which Liam would assume was a mixed drink. He stepped closer to her, pitching his voice low to signal intimacy while still ensuring Liam overheard every word. "You know I'm only frustrated. This deal's got me really…tense."

She ran her hand down the length of his sleeve and was silent for a few moments. "I know, I'm sorry, too. I'm going to go step outside to get some air, I'll let you discuss business for a little while."

"Okay," he kissed her cheek and stepped back. She was grateful for the chance to escape and made her way to the patio that overlooked Liam West's immense backyard. Guests were milling around on the lawns, amid alcoves and benches set up for intimate gatherings. Outdoor lights lit up the pathways with a warm, orange glow. That was one thing she missed with having an apartment; she would have loved a yard.

Sophie stepped up to her on the patio and made sure no one else was within earshot. "Not bad so far, you two are actually convincing." Sophie paused, thinking it over. "Maybe it's the fighting that makes you seem like a real couple."

"Thanks?" Parker shrugged. Her head had started to hurt and she'd had too much to drink already, but that didn't stop her from wanting another one.

Sophie started regaling her with tips on how to make her cover story more believable – things to say and how to act around Nate – yet it all made Parker feel like pitching the other woman off the patio. Granted it'd be a two foot drop to the ground, but at least she'd be spared Sophie's advice.

She knew Sophie meant well, but it seemed too much to take. Suggestions on how to act around Nate! As if she were so incapable of human interaction that she needed to be told what to do. What did Sophie know about him, anyways? Well, maybe Sophie knew more than Parker wanted to know about. She'd never been sure if Sophie and Nate were ever together or if it had only been missed opportunities. Truthfully, she didn't want to know if they had been. And either way, they certainly weren't together now, so the fact that she was getting "relationship" advice from Sophie really irritated her.

Against her will, she let her gaze drift back into the main room. As if sensing her, Nate looked up at that moment and caught her eyes, tipping his head slightly in acknowledgement. There was that warmth again.

It shook her quite a bit when she had the thought that he was extremely attractive when he was playing a role like this. The sense of assuredness, confidence, and power he possessed were – she gripped the railing of the patio to steady herself and shook her head.

"Are you _listening _to me?" Sophie complained. "I've been sharing my best advice with you and you're staring off into space."

"I heard every word," Parker murmured, as she willed the other woman to walk away. Her heart pounded with that feeling again. The feeling she'd had earlier, that she was too happy with the situation. She couldn't possibly _like _Nate, it was simply that she'd been pulled into the role too deeply. That was it.

And besides, she _did _like Nate, in a friendly way, so that was why she was getting confused. She sighed with relief. Nothing more to it. They would never have feelings for each other that way.

Relieved, that's what she was.

Reflexively, she folded her right hand over her left, rubbing her thumb over the ring on her finger. She wondered when relief had started feeling so bitter, and so hollow.

XXXXXX

TBC – all thoughts welcome.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's note:** Thanks again to all reviewers and those who are following this story – te amo, te amo, te amo! I hope to finish this in 6 parts. _Hope _being the operative word.

*Some characters may be OOC – but then again, any story where Nate and Parker are together probably has them a bit OOC by definition.

XXXXXX

**Chapter 4**

Nate came to collect her a short time later and draw her back to the discussion. Liam had tried to turn the topics to more familial matters, thinking she'd be more comfortable. He spoke of his wife and children, and asked about her engagement plans with Nate. _That _had gone well as she stammered on about flowers and dresses, the only two things she was sure weddings actually had. (No amount of insisting they'd just gotten engaged – seriously! – had derailed the conversation.)

And how did the man think that talking about his _family _and her _engagement _would make her _want to sleep with him?_ She had no idea, except to conclude he was just that arrogant.

Nate had done absolutely nothing to help her, only sipped his soda, and looked on with amusement as she was forced to debate with Liam the merits of a spring versus a summer wedding.

As such, she was more than thankful when Nate deliberately provoked another argument (about who was "invited" to their wedding) because it gave her the opportunity to storm away – and thankfully avoid Liam's last question about whether she preferred an open, instead of assigned, seating plan at the reception.

The entire conversation left her convinced that anyone who chose an elaborate wedding over an elopement might be clinically insane. Thank God she would never have to deal with anything like that.

The gentle throbbing in her head from earlier had intensified tenfold; it now hurt fiercely and she reveled in the silence of the hallway. She picked a random door, which led to a large study, or perhaps it was a library. She didn't know what the upper classes liked to call their rooms. Bookshelves lined two of the walls and it was empty, save for a couple standing close to each other near the fire.

When they looked at her as if she had some nerve to interrupt their private moment, she channeled her aggravation from the entire evening to angrily order them out. Once they were gone she chose the most comfortable couch to collapse on, gratefully shutting her eyes.

Sure she'd done this kind of thing before – acting a part on various jobs – but never to this degree of complexity. Her character had actual layers, at least according to the 15 page "synopsis" Hardison had given her. She was beginning to think that had been entirely unnecessary.

Unfortunately, she had only a few minutes of peace before her quiet was interrupted.

"Hey darlin', fancy meeting you in here," Liam stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him.

"How is that, seeing as you obviously followed me," she muttered, not bothering to open her eyes. She really didn't feel like dealing with him right now. He'd been nothing but pleasant all evening, yet it was a fake charm and kindness that put her on edge.

She felt him sit beside her and mentally repressed a sigh. Yes, this was her job, but that didn't mean she had to like it. In fact, she downright hated it. For the first time that evening, she cursed Nate for putting her in this position. He should have known – what? That she would find it too hard because of strange emotions she'd been having all night? Because it reminded her of all she was lacking in life? Because it meant she had to come on to another man when the person she really wanted – no, best not to follow that line of thinking. It would only make her more convinced that she truly was going insane.

"Needed to get away, huh?" They were close enough that Liam's arm touched hers, which really irked her. The couch was big enough for ten people, at least.

Though she didn't feel his previous question merited a response, she gave one anyway. Damn her sense of obligation. The things she did for Nate. No, for everyone. "Yes, I'm pretty tired. Peter was…busy," she added, as if Liam hadn't witnessed their last argument. They'd purposely had it right in front of him.

He tactfully avoided commenting on it. "Your fiancé's a pretty popular guy huh? Always busy? Not a lot of free time, I imagine. Must get pretty lonely." When Liam brought his hand down to pat her knee, as if in sympathy, she just barely stopped herself from fleeing the couch. Just barely.

"I get by," she said, more stiffly than she wanted. She was supposed to be encouraging him, and yet, it felt impossible. No, it felt…_wrong_. She swallowed and resolved to do what was expected. She wouldn't let them down. "Sometimes it's difficult," she added, solely to reinforce aforesaid resolve.

"It must be," Liam whispered. Was it her imagination, or was he inching closer to her? She would have shifted further away, but the arm of the couch stopped her progress.

"We make it work," she said, and her discomfort at how close he was must have sounded, to him, as if she were miserable with Nate, because he nodded.

Liam was staring at her intently now. "You are so beautiful," he murmured. "Your fiancé is a very stupid man. If I were him, I would be focused on you, all the time. Even at a party like this."

Parker had never wanted said "fiancé" to appear so badly in her life. She was supposed to lead Liam on, but if the way he was looking at her were any indication, he wanted more from her. Was she expected to kiss him, too? To do more than that? She had no idea. She didn't want to do too much, but then she didn't want to do too little either. She swore right then that she was going to get _exact _parameters from the team on what was expected if she ever had to do something like this again.

Seriously, Hardison could give her 15 pages on the "nuances" of her character but didn't supply anything on what exactly she was supposed to do with Liam?

"Peter's a very successful businessman," she said, deciding to avoid Liam's compliments altogether. "I don't mind. It keeps me in the lifestyle to which I have become accustomed."

Her attempts at a joke fell flat when Liam merely shook his head in disgust at Nate's supposed workaholic tendencies. "He doesn't deserve you."

"No one does," Parker tried for confidence, even as she knew that Liam had it completely backwards. It was she who didn't deserve Nate. Or the friendship of her team members. Or anyone, really. She banished the thought before she could dwell on it for too long.

To her horror, Liam inched even closer and now played with a strand of her hair. Every instinct in her screamed at her to run, but she didn't. She couldn't. _She would not let them down_.

"Liam –" She began, but he cut her off.

"Know what I think? I think that if you weren't with Peter and I wasn't with Olivia then the two of us would be perfect together."

Her internal warning bells went off, and again she had to ignore them to finish her part. This was what she'd been waiting for. Nate and the rest of them were listening at this very moment. Thankfully they'd kept silent most of the night – she made a point of telling them beforehand that listening to their (translation: Hardison's) constant chatter threw her off-guard.

She had to keep Liam preoccupied for at least 10 minutes to ensure that Nate had enough time in Liam's office.

She could keep him occupied, but kiss him – she wasn't so inclined. Not unless the situation got desperate. She stood up and crossed to the fireplace so that she was away from Liam's immediate reach. She searched her memory for something suitably seductive to say – one of her foster mothers loved to watch soap operas. There was her inspiration! "You shouldn't tempt me with such thoughts," she sighed. She was trying for wistful, but she was afraid it just came out strained.

Hardison's voice came through her com and she almost jumped after silence for so long. "Good work, Parker, keep him tied up for a few more minutes. Well not literally tied up, just figuratively – you know what, I don't want to know how you're entertaining him, but keep at it."

Parker rolled her eyes at him, glad she was facing the fire so that Liam wouldn't see her reaction. He stepped up behind her and put his arms around her. She forced herself to freeze and not pull away, and it took every ounce of strength she had.

She couldn't risk him getting angry at her and storming off, with the option to head back to his office. If he caught Nate, that would be the end of their entire operation, not to mention their physical safety would be severely compromised. She and Nate had spotted some armed security milling around the party earlier, which made sense seeing as Liam was giving a few hundred people access to his home which was filled with incredibly valuable items.

"Look, Liam," she stared into the crackling fire, thoughts flying through her mind at warp speed. She carefully turned around and separated herself from him by a few inches. How best to keep him here? Without putting herself in too awkward of a position? "Obviously we are both…attracted to each other." She nearly choked on the words. Though he was a handsome man, she knew his personality, and he was about last on the list of men she was attracted to. "However, nothing can happen between us. We are both – happily – with other people."

"Are you happy?" Liam asked. She winced and he caught it with no small amount of triumph. That struck a real chord, but not for the reasons he thought it did.

"Happy doesn't matter." What she wanted to say was, _If you spent almost your entire life having never known happiness, how would you know it when it finally arrived? _

"Come on," Liam argued, "happiness is important to everyone. It's not a hard question. I'm guessing by your non-answer that you _aren't _happy."

"It shouldn't matter to you whether I'm happy or not," she half-smiled and then, to her horror, found herself _really _thinking about his question. Was she happy? What did happy consist of? It was a bit jolting to think that if she wasn't happy right now, with Nate's team, then she might very well be the closest to happy that it was ever possible for her to get.

Liam shook his head sadly, as if the fact that she couldn't give him an affirmative answer were justification to continue pursuing her. She wished he would put more space between the two of them, but he seemed firmly glued to her side. She took a step back and he took one forward. Normally that would earn the offender a firm stomp on his instep or a fist to the solar plexus. Incidentally, both options were off the table.

She silently pleaded with Nate to hurry up. She couldn't do this for very long. Yet again, she wished Sophie had drawn this particular card. Alas, at the moment, Sophie was hovering around Liam's office to alert Nate of any danger.

Parker wanted it to be over. She wanted to go home.

"Look at me, Penny," Liam actually reached out to turn her face to his, and the only thing that saved him from her wrath was the fact that she had to keep playing her role. "I know you want me, why hide it? We're alone right now, you can talk to me."

_But I don't want to_, she thought, and didn't dare say. Once again, she walked away from him, this time pretending she was interested in one of the many shelves of books. Ordinarily she would be, but now she couldn't muster up any real excitement for them. "Liam, I'm not in the mood to have this conversation. Perhaps another time, on an occasion where neither Olivia nor Peter is present…"

Liam sighed with frustration and looked at her entirely too hard. "Fine, Penny, if you want to play hard to get then so be it. I'll leave."

He walked toward the door and she felt a flare of panic. Hardison in her ear didn't help the situation. "Stall him, Parker! You cannot give him the chance to get back to his office! Jump him if you have to!" (And trust Hardison to give her the absolute _least _appealing option on how to stall).

"Liam, wait," she said urgently enough to gain his attention. "Maybe you're right. I'm not purposely trying to lead you on or anything. It's…complicated. Surely you must understand? Besides, I'm not very good at this kind of thing." She moved closer to him and tried to sound coy. She hoped he would fill in the blanks of her sentences with a meaning she didn't really imply. She went back to sit on the couch and after a minute of holding her breath, he followed. Parker prayed she was buying enough time for Nate to get what they needed.

"I knew how you felt." Liam finally said. "It was obvious. I'm not going to play any games here, Penny. The fact is that I want you and I know you want me, too, so we should act on it. We could get it out of our systems and then move on. What do you say?" The look he gave her indicated he fully expected her agreement, and she wondered how many women had been stupid enough to fall for such a proposal.

"I'd say…that…I'm new at this? I wish I knew what to say," she told him slowly. And then sighed internally when she got no help from anyone in her ear.

"We don't need to talk," Liam said predatorily.

"No, really," she said through gritted teeth, "I wish I knew what to say." And finally Sophie got the hint.

"Oh! Um, tell him that you're interested but afraid of what your fiancé would do if he found out. Say he has a violent temper!" Sophie suggested.

Parker wasn't sold on the brilliance of that plan, but she literally had nothing else. "Liam, I would love to…" how could she say this tactfully? "…have sex with you," she finished, "but my fiancé is super jealous. He'll kill you!"

"Parker, that was _awful_!" Hardison nearly yelled in her ear. "Try a little finesse!"

"Shut up!" She hissed back, turning away from Liam.

"What?" Liam asked.

"I…mean…stop talking. It's getting us nowhere." She realized after she said it that he might interpret that as a proposition.

"My thoughts exactly!" he told her. "Now that we're on the same page, shall I get some champagne? Strawberries? Whipped cream?"

Parker frowned. "Are you that hungry? If you want to go get a snack –"

"All clear," Nate said, just in time. She sighed with relief.

"For the love of God, woman," Hardison added urgently, "get out of there as fast as you can before you ruin this entire operation!"

"Liam I –" He cut her off with a hard kiss that actually hurt, though she was too surprised to really notice the pain. She leaned backwards in an attempt to escape him, but he merely followed. For a moment she couldn't think, couldn't move. She didn't want to push him away, as it might raise too much suspicion after the way she'd been leading him on. Then again, she didn't want to continue kissing him, either. Though it was more him kissing her than her returning it in any way. She was frozen with indecision.

"Why hello, mi amore. Am I interrupting something? Perhaps I should come back later." At the words, Parker sprang into action, shoving Liam away. She jumped up from the couch and faced Nate, who was in the doorway. He surveyed the scene with an expression of immense distaste.

This was terrible. Horrible. She actually couldn't imagine it going any worse than it had happened. Except, wasn't this the way it was supposed to go? Then why did she feel as if she were in the path of an oncoming train and unable to move? "I…we…were just…"

"Getting to know each other?" Nate suggested wryly. He directed a gaze of pure ire toward Liam. "I don't know whether to warn you away from my beloved fiancée or tell you that you're welcome to her."

Parker hesitated, wondering how to act. This was all part of Nate's plan, right? She didn't remember any contingency for what to do if Liam kissed her. Nate was looking at her, and though he didn't have the same hatred toward her as was apparent in his glare at Liam, his gaze still held a fair amount of anger and…disillusion? She swallowed, hard. She had probably played her part wrong. It wouldn't have surprised her. "I'm sorry," she told him, for lack of anything else to say. How could she explain to him the real situation? He'd never believe her anyway.

Not that it would matter, either. After all, the entire scenario was a fake situation set up to con Liam, so what did it matter? Yet she felt like it did. For some reason, she felt like the current scene in which she was taking part mattered more than anything in the world. She couldn't take it anymore and looked away from him.

The room fell into silence until Nate broke it. "Find your own way home," he said coldly, before disappearing.

"Nate, you're being a bit harsh," Hardison admonished. Nate didn't reply to that one way or the other. "Parker," Hardison continued, "don't ruin your relationship with Liam by storming out. Remember that we still need him to believe you're interested in him."

Great, Parker sighed to herself. The thought that Nate might really be angry with her weighed her down in a way she never expected. Either he was a really great actor, or he was truly disappointed in her. Perhaps it was both.

"Liam, I'm sorry, but I have to go. I hope this isn't the last time we talk?"

Liam nodded curtly. "I understand you have to take care of some things. I'll be waiting when you get that whole situation sorted out." If she didn't know better, she'd say he sounded almost sympathetic.

She smiled at him, but she didn't feel it all the way to her soul.

Nate wasn't waiting outside the library, or anywhere else in the hall. He wasn't waiting in the main ballroom or at the main doors of the house. He wasn't at any of the bars, and he wasn't out on the lawns. Misery and anger warred within her. He'd really left without her. She thought of questioning him over their headsets but anger and pride refused to let her. If he wanted to talk he would have done so by now.

Hardison was droning in her ear, some nonsense or other about how the job had gone. Frankly, she didn't care at this point and angrily ripped out the communication piece.

She didn't know who she was more furious at. Eliot for breaking his leg in such a moronic way (not checking his safety harness twice, really!). Sophie for not being able to play the part. Hardison for writing up the details on her "character." Nate for walking in on them – for even supporting her in doing this in the first place. Herself for not screaming bloody murder when Liam had gotten within three feet of her.

Of course Nate wasn't waiting for her, he couldn't. Not if they had to keep up appearances as Hardison had kept telling her before she got rid of the earpiece. It would look mighty suspicious for him to leave angrily after telling her to find her own way home and then wait patiently to give her a ride. If anyone saw it or mentioned it to Liam, their whole cover story would fall apart.

The more she thought about it, though, the angrier she became. It wasn't her fault Liam had kissed her, and what had Nate been thinking leaving her there in the first place? He could have dragged her after him or made up something else instead of storming out alone. If that was the way he wanted to play it then fine. She could play, too.

She checked her phone and sighed when she saw ten new text messages, all from Hardison, all in some sort of code (in case she lost the phone and someone else found it). He was ridiculous. She wasn't going to even attempt to decipher them. She sent one to him (not using the code - she'd hear about that later) saying she'd find her own way back. It was probably childish and petty, but she didn't add that maybe she'd take a few hours to get there, and she turned off her phone for good measure. Some time alone would do her good - at the very least, it would give her plenty of time to think of all the reasons why it was she, and not Nate, who had more right to be angry.

XXXXXX

TBC – I love hearing from everyone.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's note:** Part 5 of 6. THANK YOU to all reviewers, you make my day – my year – my life! And to those silently enjoying, I love you as well. You have no idea how happy I am that other people enjoy a story about these two as much as I do. And *I* am extremely happy that Leverage was just renewed.

*Some characters may be OOC – but then again, any story where Nate and Parker are together probably has them a bit OOC by definition.

XXXXXX

**Chapter 5**

He'd been back at his apartment for a half hour, and Nate found himself doing something that had become familiar as of late – pacing.

"I'm sure she'll be here any minute," Hardison said, which might have made Nate feel better except he'd been saying that every minute. For the past thirty minutes.

"Why can't we get in touch with her?" Nate asked, and not for the first time. He was sounding more irritated each time.

"From what I can tell, she's turned off her com. And her phone."

"Or someone turned them off for her."

Hardison was worried as well, but he wouldn't show it to the already agitated man. That would do more harm than good. "I'm sure she's fine, Nate. She probably had a good reason. "

"Since when does Parker need a good reason to do anything?" He muttered darkly.

Eliot started to laugh, then quickly thought better of it. "Nate, would you sit down? You're making me dizzy. Besides, she's Parker, if anyone tries to mess with her she'll just stab them, or something."

"She can take care of herself," Sophie agreed, leaning back in her chair. She would have been more worried about Parker except she whole-heartedly believed her words.

"Listen," Hardison said levelly, as his boss continued to walk circles around the room. "It's not like this kind of thing has never happened before. We just need to be patient."

"I – it really frustrates me when she does things like this," Nate finally sat down next to Eliot who looked none too happy at his proximity to their incredibly frustrated and volatile leader.

Hardison scanned his computers again, for lack of anything better to do. He was upset like Nate, like all of them, but still… "What is going on, Nate? You're always calm and level-headed. You're the one with all the contingency plans in case something goes wrong. You need to relax and start thinking of some new alternatives."

It was as if he'd flipped a switch, with the sudden change that came over Nate. His eyes focused as he thought and then nodded to himself. "We'll give her five more minutes. If she doesn't contact us or return, we'll send Sophie back in."

"Really? But I just got here and –" Sophie immediately stopped talking when Nate turned his gaze to her. His uncharacteristic behavior worried her as much as it did Hardison. Besides, Parker hardly needed Sophie to go running to her "rescue." Most likely, if she did go back, Parker would show up the second Sophie returned to the party.

Nate couldn't remember being more furious at Parker. Sure, she'd done crazy things in the past, things that had placed her or the rest of them in jeopardy, but she always seemed to know what she was doing and over time he'd come to trust in her. Now, however, the anger was mixing with a horrible sort of fear. He didn't know where it was coming from or why. All he knew was he had to know that she was okay and he had to know it right now. And since that wasn't happening, he was taking out his anger on the rest of the team. He focused on getting himself back under control.

Parker, unfortunately for her, returned at that moment. Everyone froze as she walked into the room and tossed her handbag onto the table. She surveyed the scene and realized, instantly, that something was dreadfully wrong. Eliot and Sophie looked upset, but relieved, Hardison was shaking his head and backing away from her as if to ward off some impending storm, and Nate did nothing but stare, hard, at her.

"What's going on? Sorry it took me a bit longer to come back. _Someone_ stormed off and left me there. And what the hell, Hardison? Were those texts you sent me in _Aramaic_ or something? I couldn't read a single one."

Some part of Nate understood her reasons, but it did nothing to lessen his fury, which was still driven from his sickening worry at the thought that something might have happened to her.

"Where have you been?" Nate said, dangerously low, talking right over Hardison who was rambling on in censuring Parker for not learning the code he'd devised for this particular con, and how _easy_ it was as long as you knew the first 17 prime numbers.

Parker, too, ignored Hardison. She met Nate, stare for furious stare. "At Liam's house, where do you _think_?"

"We couldn't reach you," Hardison supplied.

"Oh that," Parker laughed. She rummaged through her handbag and then tossed him the ear piece. "I took it out when I couldn't stand any more of your constant talking."

"You took it out on your own?" Nate was seething. "Are you insane? We thought something had happened to you. I was trying to think up plans on how to get you out of there!"

"I can take care of myself, thanks," she said coldly. After all, tonight had certainly told her not to rely on anyone, such as her "fiancé" being there to drive her home from a party in the middle of nowhere. He should have thought of the consequences beforehand and not staged a fight which necessitated them splitting up to return home. Really, the man had no one to blame but himself.

"We work as a _team_!" Nate was yelling now.

Parker crossed her arms and took several steps toward him. "Do we now? I forgot that when you took off without me because you were pissed that I was buying time to get the information we needed." She had a sinking feeling that her anger did little to mask the hurt she felt at the painful reminder that she had been left behind. Again.

Somehow, the fact that it was Nate had made the situation worse – far worse than she'd imagined, in her nightmares, that it might be. She knew they all had their differences, and she could see the others walking away at times. Sometimes she wouldn't blame them. But for some reason, she'd never pictured _Nate_ walking away from her – or from any of them. For any reason. Ever.

Belatedly, Parker became aware of the spectators to the fight. Eliot and Hardison looked distinctly uncomfortable. She wasn't sure about Sophie, but she could have sworn she saw a mixture of anger and sympathy.

It was the latter that did her in. She knew Sophie had been unhappy about her role pretending to be Nate's fiancée, and for the woman to now feel obviously sorry for her? It stung in the most aggravating way.

"You know you can't go off on your own," Eliot tried, "none of us should ever do that." Hardison and Sophie said nothing, but they nodded in agreement. This was especially galling, how could they be angry at _her_? Maybe they had a point, but not one of them had spoken in her defense. Had the lines really been drawn then? Because it was awfully lonely on this side of the room.

Parker tried to turn her gaze to steel, she would _not _let them see how much they hurt her...but she had the feeling that the others knew her too well by now. They could probably see right through her. By working with them for so long, she'd given too much of herself away.

Nate had been examining the floor as if it held the answers to all his questions. Now, though, he returned to looking at her. The anger from before had evaporated, leaving only the aftermath of his anxiety and fear for her safety. "You can't ever do this to me – I mean, to us, again. Swear to me."

Parker bit her lip and shook her head in a definitive no. She would swear to nothing. Not when he wouldn't do the same for her. "I'll continue to do what it takes for us to succeed. If that means you have to be unhappy sometimes, then so be it. I'm sorry you think I let you down, especially because you can't see that you let me down, too." She glanced at each of the others, not surprised when none of them would meet her eyes.

She left then, before he or anyone else could reply. The night air was crisp and welcome in the clarity it gave her as she made her way down the sidewalk. She hated how much she'd been running away recently. It was something she'd always done as a child, and she thought she'd outgrown it as an adult. Well, she'd rationalize it by saying it wasn't really running away, more like strategically exiting when there were no other options left.

And the disappointment she'd gotten from them? From Nate? It wasn't fair - not that she expected life to be fair, far from it. But working with them, the things they did for people, it made her expect fairness from _them _and that made all the difference. She obviously hadn't done what he wanted, but then he'd never _told _her what he wanted. And that was the main problem, wasn't it?

She could have taken a cab back to her place, but the walk wasn't that far, and besides, she half thought someone might follow her.

No one did.

She'd spent her whole life being followed by those she wanted to avoid, and not being followed by those she _wanted _to do so.

Tonight really shouldn't have been that much of a surprise.

She would never admit that it sort of broke her heart that it was.

XXXXXX

She had no idea what woke her up until she jumped out of bed in near panic and stood to find herself staring at Nate, on its other side.

"What the hell?" She rubbed her eyes and looked toward her clock. It was the middle of the night – always a suitable hour to expect company, though it was sort of jarring if you weren't. And you woke up to find them in your bedroom. "Is this a nightmare?"

"How flattering," he told her. "I thought I'd give you time to calm down. I didn't figure you'd be asleep when I got here."

"It's the middle of the night!" She argued.

"It's 11 pm," he said, "to find you in bed at 11 pm is like an average person going to bed at 6." While she saw his point, she was not going to give in.

"You're lucky I don't sleep with a shot gun," she said. "And how'd you get in here?" She asked, sitting back on the edge of her bed and trying to wake up sufficiently enough to have this conversation or fight, or whatever it was going to turn into.

"You're not the only one who knows how to steal," he held up her spare penthouse key. "I took it last night."

"Nathan Ford," she was almost shocked, even as she couldn't help smiling. She whole-heartedly approved. "You broke into my home."

"No, I let myself in, I do have a key. Besides, I had a very pleasant conversation with the guard at the front desk 10 minutes ago. He can testify on my behalf that I did not break in to your apartment."

"Semantics are not going to win me over," she told him.

He nodded slowly and then laid down on the bed next to her, looking up at her ceiling. "It's late, and I'm tired. Are you tired?"

"Well, I was asleep, so yeah, I guess I was tired," she told him haughtily.

The tone of his voice told her he was smiling. "I guess I shouldn't ask questions that I already know the answer to."

"Why are you lying in my bed? No, better question – why do I not care that you're lying in my bed?"

In answer, he reached across the bed and held his hand out to her. She tentatively took it and then let him pull her down next to him so that they were lying next to each other, staring at the ceiling. "Why are you here?" She tried again.

"Because I didn't want to go to sleep the way we left things. Or I didn't want you to go to sleep the way we left things. Both. Parker, what the hell happened on this job?"

That gave her pause. What _had _happened? Something unnatural, that was for sure. She couldn't even blame this most recent job, because it only felt like the catalyst for something that had been coming for a very long time. She wondered if he felt the same way. "I really have no idea," she whispered. "What do you think? Was it good or was it terrible?"

"That depends on what part you're referring to," he said, and she felt the bed shift a bit as he moved a few inches closer to her. "Do you think I was angry at you because you failed somehow?"

She didn't answer him, because of course that's what she thought. What else could it be?

"Damn it, Parker," he took her silence as an affirmative. "You really are blind. You're blind to when anyone could possibly care about you. I was furious because I thought you might be hurt or God knows what and none of us would have known! I was furious because I was terrified for you!"

She realized, then, that while he'd been angry with her at the party, their fight afterwards, at his apartment, had been about something completely different.

And she still didn't know what to do with that.

"Mostly," he continued much more softly, "I was furious at myself, because I shouldn't have left you there. We could have played it out to make it believable that we would leave together. I wasn't thinking – I should have done better. I'm sorry."

She continued staring at her ceiling, as if it were the most fascinating thing she'd ever seen. "I thought you were mad at me, for – that whole scene, Nate, you know it was Liam who kissed me. I didn't want to – he caught me by surprise."

"I know, I realized that…a bit too late I'm afraid. I'm not mad at you," he murmured.

They laid there in silence for a few minutes, close but not touching. Just him, and her, and everything they were leaving unsaid. She didn't know about him, but she could almost _feel _the burden of all the thoughts swirling around her that she was purposely not saying.

She could have questioned him, but she really didn't want to at that moment. It might lead to another fight, and she _was _tired, and besides, it was nice simply being there with him, and she didn't want to ruin it. Truthfully, she was still trying to process the fact that he _had _followed her, he _had_. It changed everything.

"We should get some sleep," she said, inviting him to stay without having to say the words. "We can figure it out tomorrow." Let him decide what she meant by that.

"Tomorrow," he agreed. "Everything ends tomorrow."

"Right," she almost laughed. Now that was something she'd learned as a child which had never changed. _Everything ends_.

XXXXXX

TBC – one more chapter (I think!). Feedback appreciated more than you know.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's note:** Final chapter! I actually finished, in a more or less timely manner!

This turned out longer than I thought, which I guess is good (if you liked this story) or bad (if you didn't) – but if so, why are you reading the last part anyways? I would have split it, but I kept it at 6 because I said 6! And make no mistake, this was hard for me to finish, so once again, thanks for all the reviews which inspired me to keep going.

*Some characters may be OOC – but then again, any story where Nate and Parker are together probably has them a bit OOC by definition.

**XXXXXX**

**Chapter 6**

When they stepped into Nate's apartment the next morning, they were met with three very curious pairs of eyes. Sophie, in particular, seemed to be actively holding herself back from demanding details of where they'd been, and why they'd been there together.

"Who broke in this time?" Nate asked warily. "Never mind, it doesn't matter."

"We weren't going to sit in the hall waiting for you," Sophie looked put out at the very thought.

"Late night?" Hardison asked, somewhat in trepidation.

Parker seized on his uneasiness. "_Very _late night. Exhausting, wouldn't you say, Nate?"

"Here we go," he muttered, walking away to pour himself some coffee, as Hardison merely stared at them wide-eyed.

"Someone's made up. See Nate, I told you a little charm goes a long way. Congratulations, after today you are a free man again. Women! Am I right? High five!" Eliot was laughing, though he abruptly stopped when Parker glared at him, grabbed his crutches, and threw them into the kitchen. Nate barely dodged them as he rounded the counter to come back to the living room. It did cause him to drop his mug though, and she winced as it shattered.

"Parker!" Nate and Eliot yelled, in perfect unison.

"Oh sure, blame me for gravity!" She said, disgusted. "Sorry, Nate," she added after a moment, both because she was sorry he'd lost his coffee, and because she knew apologizing only to him would piss Eliot off immensely.

"You are extremely lucky my leg is broken," Eliot informed her, "or you'd be sorry."

"Be thankful they didn't go out the window," Parker said, unfazed. "_Free_ indeed, you'd be lucky to be chained to me for life."

Eliot looked around for help no one was inclined to give him. "Sophie?"

"Why on Earth do you expect me to help you?"

"Because you have a heart, unlike…" He nodded toward Parker, who pointed at the window in warning.

Ignoring the fight, Hardison still seemed stuck on the fact that she and Nate had walked in together (oh horror – what was he, ten?). "Tell me you're joking. You guys just happened to…meet up on your way in, right?" He asked hopefully.

"No," Parker told him breezily. "I told you, we spent last night together, so we came here together."

Hardison opened and closed his mouth several times before settling on silence as the best response.

Sophie looked back and forth between them. "It's nice to see you've settled your differences," she said cautiously. And was that a hint of jealousy in her tone? Parker wasn't sure, but she ignored it either way.

Apparently sensing a safer topic, Hardison spoke again. "Yeah, Parker, never do that to us again, please? You should have seen Nate last night, I thought he was going to go insane. I cannot deal with him when he's like that. If you keeping him happy makes my job easier then –"

"Hardison, not everything is about you," Sophie sighed wearily.

"Remember, Sophie, you're talking to the man who created his own fan website," Eliot smirked, as the two of them started laughing.

"Hey, that was for the job we did a month ago and I haven't gotten around to taking it down and, you know what, I'm not dealing with you two right now," Hardison sulked.

"Guys, can we focus for a minute?" Nate held out the documents they'd stolen from Liam's office. "We have one chance today to corner him. I think we pulled things off last night, he now trusts you, Parker, but not me. All you need to do is get him alone to confront him. Do you remember the plan?"

Parker wondered if they'd be open to other options. "Why does it have to be me? I nominate Hardison. He never does anything."

"What?" Hardison cried, "If you had seen the technical and logistical feats I had to pull off last night –"

"I highly doubt," Sophie talked right over him, "that Liam would be tempted at the thought of a romantic luncheon with Hardison."

"Sophie!" Hardison immediately forgot his anger at Parker. "I'll have you know that when called upon, I can charm _anyone_."

Nate ignored him, watching only Parker for her response. She sighed. "What if it goes wrong? What if –"

Nate stepped up behind her and lightly squeezed her shoulders. "Don't worry. You've been perfect at this."

She let herself absorb his words and stayed silent as the rest of them continued talking, at length, about the final phase of their plan. Liam probably hadn't noticed right away that the documents had been stolen. Documents which proved he'd falsified many of the reports he'd given to shareholders in his biomedical company.

Parker was supposed to meet him – in public – and show him what they had on him. They didn't actually need him to finish the con – all they had to do was make the documents public and his shareholders would sell as quickly as possible. His company would collapse. But he'd hurt too many people, and one of those people, Sharon Martell, wanted him to make a private deal with the team: resign publicly and reimburse, with his own personal wealth, those who had lost all their money to his scheme. In return, he wouldn't go to jail for his crimes because they wouldn't report him, they'd simply cause his company to collapse without implicating him in its downfall. It seemed far too light a sentence to Parker: willingly give up his position and several million dollars, but he'd still be able to live as a free man with his reputation untarnished. Liam West was a truly lucky man that his victims were more compassionate than he was.

Of course, if he went to jail, his victims would never see a dime, so there was that incentive, Parker thought wryly. She wondered if Sharon were more interested in compassion or in getting her money back. Probably the latter, but then Parker was the last person in the world to blame her for _that_.

The woman was totally and completely alone. Parker had once known what that felt like, and now she found she couldn't put herself back in that place anymore.

And for that, she was infinitely glad.

XXXXXX

She would have dropped the act earlier, except the others had a good point – if Liam knew beforehand that he was meeting her about the theft of documents from his office, he would most likely show up with security. Whereas if he thought he were meeting Parker for a romantic meeting, he would come alone, with his guard down.

It sickened her, pretending to like him, even during that one short phone call to set up a meeting. She did it for only one reason. And it wasn't for the sake of their con, or for Liam's victims. It was for one man in particular.

"Penny," Liam said brightly, moving to kiss her cheek. She leaned back out of his reach almost without thinking about it. He paused, then let the moment pass without comment. "It's nice to see you, but honestly I hadn't expected to hear from you so soon after last night."

"Right," she took a deep breath as he sat across from her. Why had she found this much harder than stealing from people? Than breaking into buildings? She had no idea, and maybe she'd never understand it, but she understood one thing perfectly, and that was that she didn't want to play anymore. She couldn't. Thankfully, she didn't have to.

She slid the folder containing copies of the incriminating documents across the table to him. He was puzzled, but flipped it open and scanned them. The change that came over his face was fascinating. He went from a carefree man expecting an illicit tryst to unbelievably furious and threatening in the space of ten seconds.

"You…you?" He was nearly speechless.

"It wasn't only me," she told him. "I had some help."

He shook his head and slammed the folder shut. "You bitch. You're dead. Do you know who you're dealing with?"

"I know exactly who I'm dealing with. Which is why I already know what option you'll take of the two I'm about to set before you. In the first, I make these documents public and you go to jail – for a very long time – for fraud. In the second, you pay substantial restitution to those you have hurt, you resign and disappear, and your company collapses. It's up to you."

"You can't do this, it's blackmail. I'll have you arrested."

"We both know that's an empty threat. You can't have me arrested without exposing yourself. And that's assuming, of course, that the police would be able to find me. I assure you, they wouldn't."

He knew he had no way out, and since threats weren't working, he abruptly switched tactics. "Think about this," he pleaded. "You're ruining lives if you do this. My family – my wife and children. They'll be destroyed!"

"I shouldn't be surprised that you think your family is more important than the families you ruined by misrepresenting your company and its products. You stole everything from them."

"I can pay you," he offered. "What do you want? Name your price."

"That might have tempted me once," she said honestly. "Sadly for you, I've gone legitimate...so to speak. You won't get out of this by paying me a fraction of what you owe to the people you've stolen from. Stop trying." She lowered her voice to a whisper, "You're embarrassing yourself."

"Who are you working with?" He asked, grabbing her wrist with such pressure that she had to hide a wince. "Tell me and maybe I'll let you walk out of here."

"You have two seconds to let go of her," Nate said, stepping up to their table, "or you'll regret it even more than you regret meeting either of us."

Liam abruptly let go of her wrist. "I should have known."

Parker wrote an account number and the price of his freedom on a piece of paper and handed it to him. "You have 8 hours. If you haven't wired the money by then, you can look forward to jail. And don't even think about running, we're watching you."

Liam started looking around, as if he might find himself being watched by a half dozen shady observers. He must have known he was out of options, and what they were offering was pretty good when compared to a lengthy jail sentence. He took the paper and left without another word.

"Nate..." she said, as he sat across from her, that one word conveying her relief, happiness at a job well done, and a warning she never wanted to do it again.

"I know," he said. And he did.

XXXXXX

"We're going downstairs to celebrate," Hardison told them, grabbing his jacket. Liam had wired the money they asked for, and left the country - though no one could truly disappear from Hardison, and he said he'd be keeping tabs on the man for awhile to make sure he didn't try to set up another scam.

"Yeah, you're buying my drinks tonight," Eliot reminded him, "because I won our bet."

"What bet?" Parker asked suspiciously. She didn't remember them making any wagers. Which had to mean…

"Shut up!" Hardison hissed urgently, as Eliot tried to look innocent.

"Hardison, tell me now, of your own free will, or you'll tell me while in pain because I've had to force it out of you," Parker promised.

"Nate? Surely you wouldn't let her physically harm me," Hardison tried.

"Oh no, I'm very interested in what you have to say."

"Sophie?" Hardison pleaded.

She was decidedly unsympathetic. "Hardison, you made your own bed."

"Well I…I bet that…" Hardison bolted for the door and was gone before Parker could react.

Eliot grabbed his crutches, and saved her the trouble of chasing after him. "He bet that you would drive Nate so crazy that he would end up breaking character and ruin the entire initial plan."

"I'm not that bad! I think we pulled through alright, didn't we?" She turned to Nate for confirmation.

Before he could answer, Sophie spoke up, apparently having given the entire matter a lot of thought. "Really, Eliot, Parker _did _cause Nate to get angry enough with her that he left her at Liam's party, so technically one might argue that Hardison was indeed right. You should be buying _him _drinks tonight."

"Why are you taking his side?" Eliot complained, as Nate said quickly they really should get going.

"We're right behind you," Nate added, before slamming the door behind them the second they left his apartment. He sighed with relief once they were gone.

Parker had been watching the exchange closely. Did he think that she didn't remember what happened only one day before? Which brought her back, _again_, to what had happened between them. The night before, she'd come to a conclusion that had been a long time coming, and she didn't know what to do about it, not without knowing what he thought…

"I feel like we've been doing this forever, Nate."

He assessed her for a moment, before saying slowly, "I think that we have."

"I've been thinking," she said, "About this job, and…"

He waited, but she seemed to have lost all will to speak. "And?"

She sat on his couch and ran her hands through her hair. "Nate, I…" _I'm scared to death_. How about that?

She felt him sit beside her. He reached out and touched her arm lightly, and she managed not to pull away. "Parker, you don't have to be afraid of me."

His words were meaningless, because he was one of the few people she'd _never _been afraid of – it was emotions that scared her and always had. How could she tell him that she couldn't talk to him about her feelings without any reassurance that he felt the same way? "I'm not afraid," she said.

He knew that was far from the truth. "Are you alright?"

"No. No, I'm not alright. What did you mean, last night, when you asked me what happened on this job?"

Nate watched her for a few moments, but she wasn't looking at him. She either didn't want to, or she couldn't. "I meant it was strange. The two of us together? I'm sure you agree."

Forget about sinking; it was more like her heart fell out of her whole body. "No, I agree, completely. It was strange. At least it's over." Everything ends. She should be grateful for that, too, because it meant that this – whatever _this _was – that she felt, would pass and things would go back to the way they used to be. Right?

Why did that feel like a lie?

"That reminds me," she said, fingering the ring on her hand. "You want this back, I'm sure. I've been wondering, whose is it? Sophie's?" At the mere thought, she felt it almost burning her hand. She pulled it off with such haste that she thought she might have sprained her finger. She held it out for him to take.

"It's not Sophie's," he told her, and instead of taking it, he merely looked at it with…nostalgia?

Oh God. "It's Maggie's, isn't it? You gave me your ex-wife's ring!" She threw it at him and he caught it before it could go sailing past him into the hallway.

"No," he sort of laughed. "Maggie kept her ring when we divorced. I didn't want it back."

Well, she didn't figure Eliot or Hardison would have stolen a diamond ring during the course of their…careers (though anything was possible). "Don't tell me you carry a ring around with you, for the possibility that you meet the right girl?" It was such a ludicrous thought that she smiled at him against her will.

"Yes," he said smoothly, "I keep an engagement ring with me at all times, just in case."

And yet, he was turning it over and over in his hands, in such a way that she knew it meant something to him. "I'm not a mind reader," she told him quietly, and meant it for so much more than the ring.

"It was my grandmother's," he said, finally. Which left her speechless, until he added, "I needed a ring on short notice, then I remembered my mother had given me this years ago…"

"Oh." She watched as he stopped turning it around and held it firmly in his hand. "That's convenient."

"Yeah," he muttered, shaking his head as if to clear it, and then he focused on her with such intensity that she froze. "Parker, did you want to tell me something earlier?"

"What?" She nearly panicked. "No!"

"Because I thought that –"

"Whatever you thought, you were wrong," she assured him, even as she cursed herself. She hated this. _Hated _it. This is why Sophie was always supposed to be the actress. She couldn't do it. "The only thing I feel is thrilled that this job is done. I'm _never _doing this again."

She might have said that with too much venom, from the way he (in her opinion) overreacted. "As if you had it hard? _I _was the one who had to deal with _you_!"

"_Deal _with me?" She was starting to get really irritated. "You know what, if this has taught us anything it's that the two of us should never pretend to be together again. It doesn't work."

"It wasn't even for that long," he reminded her. "How sad is it that we couldn't do this for a few days?"

"I find it fascinating that people can stay with each other for real. For _weeks _at a time!"

"Yeah," he deadpanned. "Weeks."

"It's agreed then," she held out her hand to shake his, as if they were sealing an important pact. "If the situation ever arises again where someone needs to be in a fake relationship, it will be you and Sophie, or me and…no one. No one!"

From the way Nate was trying not to roll his eyes, she knew that he thought this was unnecessary, but he held his hand out anyways. "Okay, Parker. You and me, never pretending again."

She clasped his hand; she knew she'd bend him to her will. Only he didn't let go of her. "Nate, typically when you shake someone's hand, afterwards you have to let –"

She never got to finish explaining the mechanics of a proper handshake to him because he pulled her to him and kissed her. Clever, she thought, and didn't say, on account of being…preoccupied. She was so lost in him that she almost missed what he said when he pulled back a moment later.

"Parker, what if we weren't pretending?"

She had to think about what he was proposing. He couldn't mean – but he must. "Are you trying to say –"

"I'm not _trying _to say anything. I'm _saying _I love you."

It was what she'd been hoping all along, but panic took hold. "What? You can't!"

He was thoroughly exasperated. "I really think I can."

No, no it wasn't possible. Her mind was tricking her into thinking she'd heard something else. Or maybe he was joking – that was possible! It was all part of Hardison's bet. "Are you serious?"

He waited for her to meet his eyes before he said calmly, "I'm in love with you."

"Then what…that doesn't make sense. You were so upset when Eliot got injured and you had to pretend to be my fiancé. Why would you have done that if you really had feelings for me?"

Her question was valid and he had to answer, but it took him a minute. "I was afraid," he admitted. "I've had feelings for you for awhile, and when Eliot broke his leg, I realized what we'd have to do. I was afraid my true feelings would come through. That's why I didn't want to do this. Only now I realize…it doesn't matter anymore because, Parker, I need to know – do you feel the same?"

She did, oh God she did. But she was still afraid. People changed, and feelings changed, and reasons changed, and how was she supposed to admit to him something that might end up causing her irrevocable pain? "Everything ends, Nate," she whispered.

When he spoke, it was with such solemnity that she had to believe him. "You're wrong, Parker. You know how I know that? Because we'll never end," he leaned in to kiss her. She met him half-way, and it occurred to her to tell him that he had no way of knowing that. Except…she couldn't imagine ever leaving him. And if he would likewise never leave her, then that logically meant that…

She leaned back. "Forever? You aren't seriously promising me forever."

"I know you're looking for the safe bet, and we both know there are no guarantees in life," he said. "I'm promising you something else. Me. Do you trust me?"

She knew that he knew very well there was no one she trusted more. In that sense, it was an unfair question. He already had the advantage and he knew it. "You know I trust you."

"Then believe me," he said simply.

She held her breath for a moment, frozen at the threshold of two possible choices.

Decisions. If she traced her life backwards, she saw a series of major decisions. The kind of turning points where your life could go one way or the other: To report her abusive foster parents, or not. To let bad relationships dissolve, or not. To join Nate's team. Or not.

She'd made the right decision every time. By picking the choice she wanted. Not the choice others told her she wanted.

That was why she took one of the biggest leaps of her life, ignoring uncertainty to hesitantly lean toward him, resting her forehead against his. He didn't push her away as she might have once feared. He only put his arm around her and pulled her closer.

"You and me," she said quietly. "No pretending."

"Are you sure?" He asked. "Because I'm sure as hell not asking for _your _version of long-term. Which is apparently only a few weeks."

"Long-term," she affirmed. "I can promise at least two months."

He started to argue with her, then relaxed when he saw she could barely contain her amusement. "Try to get out after two months. I dare you."

"I won't be trying anything of the sort," she swore, stretching out next to him on the couch.

They stayed there together for so long that they never ended up joining the others down in the bar. When the other three came looking for them a few hours later, Hardison was mute with shock, Eliot complained that he should have followed his instincts and made a counter-bet, and Sophie grudgingly said she could accept it, if they were happy.

Though Parker didn't have much to compare it to, she knew for certain that they _were _happy.

A few months later, he gave her his grandmother's ring again and told her if she wanted him (as if that were ever in question), she had to keep it forever – or at least, however long forever was for her. In between kissing him, she swore she would, and she meant it, even though she'd never promised 'forever' for anything before in her entire life.

Decisions, indeed. She thought he was the best one she'd ever made.

And how did she know she'd been right? Because many, many years later, she still felt the same way.

**XXXXXX**

THE END! I hope I didn't lose too many readers during the course of this story. Special thanks to consistent reviewers: Against the Evening Sky, jojobevco, OiitsAJ, housefan87, Erin, agenttofutti, zombienath – you'll never appreciate how awesome I think each and every one of you are.

Final thoughts/criticism/suggestions/whatever welcome. Anything except a suggestion to write anything other than N/P. They are it for me.

I LOVE everyone who read this story, whether you reviewed or not. But all reviewers have a special place in my heart! I had so much fun doing this I will probably do it again, I have a bunch of stories half written…isn't that always the way. I hope you come back if I write more. =)


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